1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the information processing field. More particularly, the invention relates to methods and apparatus for pricing programming events viewed by multiple viewers.
2. Background of the Related Art
The movie rental industry has seen substantial growth in recent years. Conventionally, movies have been rented in the form of videocassettes and DVDs. One advantage with such a rental system is that the physical storage medium, once rented, may be circulated between multiple viewers who can split the cost, even though the movie is viewed more than once and at different locations. However, such storage media is an imposition on users who must first receive the storage media (e.g., by physically visiting a video rental location) and later return the same.
More recently, movies and other programming events have been made available by cable and satellite providers. Movies can be purchased from such providers by accessing an online guide. Such guides are configured to allow customers to browse a wide selection of recently released movies and other video events. Once a customer identifies a movie he or she wishes to view, the customer then agrees to purchase the movie for some specified fee. The movie is then immediately, or at some later time, transmitted to the customer's display device and the appropriate fee is charged to the customer's account. In this manner, customers are able to avoid the inconveniences associated with renting physical video storage media.
One problem that the above described movie watching method does not overcome is that each transmission to a separate location (i.e. customer) is separately invoiced for the full amount of the movie. This is true even though the viewers may be related and may have agreed to view the program at the same time.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus that allows more flexibility in viewing movies and other programming events that are transmitted to viewers from a remotely located provider.